vastity en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈvæstəti/ (General-American)
- /ˈvæstɪti/ (General-American)
- /ˈvɑːstɪti/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˈvɑːstəti/ (Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
From vast + -ity, from Middle French vastité or its source, Latin vastitas. Compare Middle English wastite.
Meanings
-
(countable, obsolete, uncountable) Emptiness or desolation.
Leo Decimus was so much bewailed in Rome after his departure, that[…]all good fellowship, peace, mirth, and plenty died with him, tanquam eodem sepulchro cum Leone condita lugebantur; for it was a golden age whilst he lived, but after his decease an iron season succeeded[…], wars, plagues, vastity, discontent.
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection vii:
-
(countable, uncountable) Vastness.
there is no […] soule so skittish and stubborne, that hath not a feeling of some reverence in considering the clowdy vastitie and gloomie canapies of our churches […].
, II.12
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| vastities | Number=Plur | lexicographic |